NEW YORK — Crime victims and their households pointed fingers Monday at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his refusal to prosecute critical offenses as the basis of the violent crime downside within the borough.
The witnesses testified earlier than the House Judiciary Committee throughout a distant listening to in downtown Manhattan meant to scrutinize the hovering crime fee within the metropolis. GOP lawmakers are also criticizing Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, for prosecuting former President Donald Trump for alleged enterprise fraud whereas they are saying violent crime is uncontrolled.
According to metropolis statistics launched in February, greater than 170,000 felony crimes have been reported in New York City final 12 months, essentially the most since 2006, when the New York Police Department started making the numbers publicly obtainable.
The listening to spearheaded by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, is being held amid scrutinizing Mr. Bragg, a Democratic D.A., and his prosecution of Mr. Trump.
“In this country, justice is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. However, here in Manhattan, scales of justice are weighed down by politics,” Mr. Jordan mentioned throughout his opening remarks. “For the district attorney, justice isn’t blind. It’s about looking for opportunities to advance a political agenda, a radical political agenda.”
He asserted, “Rather than enforcing the law, the DA is using his office to do the bidding of left-wing campaign funders. He’s taken his soft-on-crime approach to the real criminals.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, mentioned Mr. Jordan was simply taking part in protection for Mr. Trump, as the previous president faces 34 felony expenses from Mr. Bragg’s workplace associated to a hush-money indictment.
“The chairman is doing the bidding of Donald Trump to smear and intimidate the duly elected District Attorney in Manhattan from doing the work his constituents elected him to do,” mentioned Mr. Nadler, the highest Democrat on the committee. “They have demanded access to the inner workings of an ongoing criminal case for information to which they know they are not entitled.”
Madeline Brame, chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council and mom of a murder sufferer, advised the committee {that a} group of 4 perpetrators violently assaulted her son however solely two have been charged and convicted for his homicide.
“Me, my family and my grandchildren, we were treated like garbage [by Mr. Bragg] … and I’m not the only one,” she mentioned. “There are hundreds and thousands of us. We don’t give a damn about your politics. We don’t care. It could be the man on the moon who’s running for president.”
Barry Borgen, the daddy of a sufferer of an anti-Semitic assault in Times Square two years in the past, advised the committee that Mr. Bragg’s workplace supplied a comfortable plea deal to one of many accused attackers.
Mr. Borgen excoriated Mr. Nadler and Sen. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
“You’re a Jewish New Yorker, I called your office. There was no response,” he mentioned to Mr. Nadler. “I called Mr. Schumer’s office, another Jewish New Yorker. No response. No one called us back … you have Jewish roots here and behavior like this enables D.A. Bragg to do whatever he wants to do.”
Democrats invited witnesses who blamed the crime subject on Republican-controlled states with looser gun legal guidelines, saying they’ve allowed weapons to be trafficked to blue cities.
Additionally, the Democratic lawmakers and their witnesses pounded Republican lawmakers for attacking New York City’s crime fee and in contrast the numbers to GOP-controlled states.
“What we found when we looked at between 2000 and 2020 is the murder rate in red states, as defined by the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 versus 25 states [for] Joe Biden — the murder rate in red states was higher than the murder rate in blue states in all 21 of those years,” mentioned Jim Kessler, co-founder and senior vp for coverage of Third Way.
Democrats referred to as the committee a “sham” and accused the witnesses of being “props” of the Republican lawmakers on the committee, which GOP members disputed.
The listening to grew to become raucous sometimes with protesters.
Visitors sitting within the gallery, most of whom have been victims’ advocates, heckled the Democratic lawmakers throughout their remarks. One particular person stood up and referred to as the Democratic members “scumbags.”
Gun management protesters and supporters of Mr. Bragg tried to bust into the committee room firstly of the listening to and accused Mr. Jordan of being a “traitor.”
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